I’m so grateful that some of my grandparents are still alive and just knowing when they were younger they didn’t have the right to vote or they got harassed for voting. I voted in local elections and I plan to vote in the presidential election. Every election matters to me because people died for me to have it and if I don’t use my right to vote, then I can’t complain. I think a lot of people forget that as a voter, especially me being Black, we have a lot more power than what we realize because we have the right and the power to elect our politicians that represent us and that we’ll be able to pass legislation that will better our lives.
Jahleel Johnson
Am I supposed to have any feelings? I just feel like it’s something that I’m entitled to do so I take advantage of it. However, I can remember during my lifetime where there was a time when Blacks had to really almost fight to be able to vote, to register to vote. But as I said I feel like now that we have overcome that, that I am entitled to the privilege of voting, I take advantage of it. Even if it’s just a little primary, I go right out there and vote. Sometimes I go it’s not even in my district and they tell me, ‘Oh, this is not your district, Mrs. Mack.’ Oh, well I just heard you’re supposed to vote, so I go and vote if they let me.
I’m just exercising the right that I’ve always had. For me, the historical context doesn’t hit quite the same as it would for my parents, because it’s always been this way for me. I’ve always known that I had the opportunity to vote once I turned 18. I’m the type of person where if I know I can do something, when I actually do it, it’s not that big of a deal. It just felt like a regular day, just voting, because I’m an American citizen. That’s what I should do.
It means a lot. My vote counts. And I just feel as though I’m doing what I can to just put us in a better position and make some change happen.
Russell J. Earle Jr.
That’s the only thing we got that’s supposed to be fair. That’s it!
Jettiva S. Belton
“I mean, one, of course, being an African-American male, we always didn’t have a voice in regard to who our political leaders were. My vote has influence now and it can influence not just our present but the future to come, for generations to come. And so you never know exactly what one vote may do and how things would play out because of that.”
Being able to exercise the right to be able to vote, it’s good. Just being able to go out there and be able to do my part and to be able to vote. It ain’t really nothing like too extreme for me.
I think being a Black voter right now, I think we hold a lot of weight. Honestly, I think if you can get the Black vote, you can get everyone else too. I think a lot of people have respect for what we have to say and who we tend to back, if that makes any sense. I think being a Black voter holds a lot of responsibility today and I think it will inspire change. I think we hold a lot of power in this election, for real.
It means a lot because I could put my opinion in — my voice. As soon as I could vote, I registered. My grandparents got me registered, and I voted. That means a lot to me.
It’s just a civic duty. We have to teach our kids. I got three kids — three daughters — but it wasn’t about Being Black to vote. You have to vote, in order for you to participate in the laws and in the government; you got to vote, you have to participate. So I never looked at it as just being a Black voter.
It’s not something that I take very lightly. It’s something that has not been afforded to me or people who look like me for long. And a lot more people who look like me still don’t have the right to vote because they’re in jail because of unfair laws. I feel like I’m not just voting for myself, and I just take that as an incredible privilege.